[DeTomaso] Unhappy motor - looking for suggestions

Larry - Ohio Time Larry at ohiotimecorp.com
Sun Nov 2 18:18:45 EST 2014


Hi Charlie,

I have had cars act up this way. It does sound fuel related. Your not
getting enough of it. Fuel filter, sock in tank, vent in tank (test this by
driving with the cap off), fuel line, then fuel pump.

But then I have had a coil go wacko and do this too. 

Start with simple EZ things first (if you hear hoof beats think hoarse not
zebra).


Larry (was that a deer?) - Cleveland





-----Original Message-----
From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at poca.com] On Behalf Of Charles
McCall
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2014 2:13 PM
To: detomaso at poca.com
Subject: [DeTomaso] Unhappy motor - looking for suggestions

Hi all

 

I just got back from a Supercar event in northern Spain with 35 cars
attending - Lambo, Ferrari, Viper, Porsche, and, as usual, a lone DeTomaso!

 

The highlight for me without a doubt was an 8-minute burst on the highway
with the police clearing the way for us, cruising at a steady GPS-indicated
180 k/hr in a 35 car convoy. the people out for a Sunday drive must have had
their minds boggled. 

 

Anyway, my engine is not happy. This morning in the hotel parking lot I
really thought that we'd have to skip today's event because it wouldn't
start and didn't sound like it was even thinking about starting. Took
probably 5 minutes of crank-wait-crank-wait before it fired. Yesterday at
the gas station it took 2-3 minutes to start, something that has never, ever
happened before. It is really hard to describe the problem so much of it is
"feel", but I'll do my best. 

 

A few weeks ago I noticed that the engine would tend to stumble if I would
floor the throttle, then clear its throat and pull. For example, I like to
heel-and-toe, just because, and when blipping the throttle it would stumble
instead of rev. The engine also felt a little rougher, as though it vibrated
more than I remembered it. I don't remember if this was before or after I
did a short tune-up, by adjusting the valve lash (I have mechanical
lifters), and cleaning the K&N air filter by applying K&N filter oil, etc.
or if it is irrelevant. So I was messing around in the engine bay recently.

 

This weekend the engine felt considerably worse. It felt like it would
stumble under partial throttle as well. It would stumble a little bit under
trailing throttle going downhill as well, so I don't think it is a clogged
fuel filter. 

 

Oil temp is perfect. Oil pressure is perfect. Water temp is perfect. The
engine idles perfectly. But if you floor the gas from idle, it'll stall. The
engine doesn't feel crisp, it feels bloated and soft, if that makes sense.
It feels rough, and it feels like it occasionally stumbles under constant
throttle at highway speed. It pulls hard when accelerating, but I don't
think as hard as it used to, or as high (I have a 6500 rpm limiting chip in
the MSD that it used to pull very easily to). 

 

Suggestions for where to begin looking? And other info that would help in
troubleshooting? 

 

 






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